There are many varying types of child resistant closure systems disclosed in the art. An example of a particular type of child resistant closure system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,078, which relates to a combination of a container and safety cap. While many child resistant caps effectively provide protection against the danger of small children being able to remove potentially harmful pills from vials or other containers, they also provide a problem for a considerable portion of the adult population that require medication, however, lack the manual dexterity or strength to remove the child resistant cap. This is of a particular concern to the elderly population or people suffering from arthritis and other debilitating diseases.
This particular problem has been addressed by the development of closure systems having a child resistant mode and a non-child resistant mode such that, in the non-child resistant mode, the closure are more easily opened by adults. An example of such a closure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,934 (the '934 patent) which is herein incorporated by reference. The '934 patent discloses a container closure that is selectively manipulable between a configuration which resists opening by children and a configuration which may be easily opened without special manipulation of the closure. Specifically, the closure is manipulated into its non-child resistant mode by “pressing down” on the central portion of the top surface of the closure. Although the aforementioned closure effectively provides protection against the danger of small children being able to remove it from vials or other containers, a certain portion of the adult population lack the manual dexterity or strength to “press down” the central portion of the top surface of the closure so to manipulate the closure from its child resistant configuration to its non-child resistant configuration. This manipulation or “pushing down” also represents a problem for people with long fingernails. Other reversible child resistant closure have been developed to address this problem, however, making the closure easier to convert into the non-child resistant configuration increase the risk that the closures will inadvertently be converted into their non-child resistant configurations. Similarly, there is an increased risk that automated filling machines will inadvertently convert the closures into their non-child resistant configurations when applying the closure to the container.
Further, the closures of the type disclosed in the '934 patent cannot include a warning to the consumer once the closure has been converted to its non-child resistant configuration. This message is required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) to alert users that the closure has been converted into the non-child resistant configuration.
Furthermore, other reversible child resistant designs that do include the CPSC consumer warning cannot be used in automated dispensing equipment due to projections on their outer surface.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a closure that has a child resistant mode which resists opening by children, has a non-child resistant mode which may be easily opened without special manipulation, resists inadvertent conversion from its child resistant mode to its non-child resistant mode, is capable of including the mandated CPSC warning “CAUTION NOT CHILD RESISTANT” when used in its non-child resistant mode, and can be used in automated dispensing machines so overcoming the aforementioned deficiencies of the prior art.